Aerator



g 25, 1953 R. RUEMELIN 2,649,962

AERATOR Filed Jan. 14, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 use.

Patented Aug. 25, 1953 A'lENT OFFICE This. invention relates. to. improvementsin acrators.

It is common practice, in sand blasting, to. use a sand blast room within which the casting to be. cleaned or other article to be blasted is. located. The operator usually stands outside of the sand blast room and projects the sand blast: nozzle through an apron or other opening intothe interior, there, being a. sight window to enable the operator to. view the work. It. is also: common practice. to have the floor of the. sand blast room in the form of a grill so that the used sand may fall through the grill into a hopper therebelow.

Before. used sand or other abrasive material can be delivered to a sand blast generator for reuse,v dust. must be removed therefrom. Heretofore, the use. of a. sand blast generator below thefloor has. been impractical because there has been no suitable. method. of removing. dust from the abrasive material before delivery to. the. generator. Dust removing apparatus; heretofore available. has required; more headroom than is available in the. average. basement, It has, therefore, been customary to convey-the. abrasive horizontally below the floorand to then elevate it to. a point well above. the main floor where it can be. dropped into an aerator and then. into. a generator, both located on. the main floor. This arrangement is objectionable because. iteonsumes valuable floor space.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a compact aerator which may be used for a variety of purposes... and which req i s little head room so that it is particularly well adapted to be attached to the bottom of a hopp.e-1,. below a sand blast room, to deliver cleaned abrasive by ravity nto a generator lso. locat d in. thev ba ment below the aerator.

A further object of the invention is to. provide an improved aerator of the class described wherein novel means is employed for subjecting a material; to, an efficient aerating action.

A still fu ther qbiec oi the i v ationv is to provide a device as above described which includes a vertically movable, hollow conical valve member, the arrangement being such that the material to be acted upon such as used abrasive falls by gravity in a thin conical sheet down the sides of the valve member, and there being an air-exhausting tube projecting into the hollow conical valve to create air currents which serve to remove dust or other matter from the falling material while permitting other portions of the material such as the heavier clean abrasive to fall by gravity into a generator or other receptacle therebelow.

Qther objects. of the invention. are tov provide an aerator which is relatively simple in construction, which can be adjusted to meet various conditions. which. is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, eminent. in. operation, and well adapted for the purpose described.

With the above: and other objects in view, the invention. consists of the improved aerator, and all its parts and combinations, as set forth in the claim, and all equivalents thereof.

In the. accompanying drawings, in which the same reference numerals designate the same parts in. all of the views:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the improved aerator connected to. the top f a Sand blast generator;

Fig. 2v is a side elevational View of the aerator alone, parts being broken away andshown in section; and

Fig. 3 is an end elevational viewof the aerator, par s. being broken away and shown in section.

Refer-ring. more. particularly to the drawings, which indicate. only one typeof use. for the improved. aerator, the numeral Ill designates the lower portion ot a hopper. the latter projecting om beneath. the floor of, a sand blast room to receive used; abrasive, material which has fallen through the grill in the floor of said sand blast room. Positioned against the bottom of. the hopper ill is a tray ll having an. opening 12 which registers with the open lower end of the hopper ill. Projecting; downwardly from the opening 12 in the tray is a. hopper-dikebottom- |3 having a discharge opening I24. An external ring is surrounds. the discharge Opening l4 and has legs. [8 depending therefrom; which support the ring in spaced position above they upper end of a. cylinder IT. The latter projects. from the top. of a sand: blast generator l8 and is adapted to direct cleaned brasive n o the. generator. The sand blast generator may be of any standard type commonly used. in sand blasting operations.

Seated against. the. lower face, oi the external ring l5 and held in position by a flanged circular-retaining member [9 is a circular seal 20 of synthetic rubber or other suitable material. The circular retainer [9 may have its upper edge welded or otherwise connected to the lower face of the member l5.

Suitably journaled transversely through the hopper-like tray bottom I3 is a shaft 2|. Mounted rigidly on the shaft within the hopper-like bottom I3 is an arm 22. The outer end of the arm is pivotally connected as at 23 between spaced ears 24 which project upwardly from the top of a hollow conical valve member 25,

Rigidly connected at one of its ends to a projecting end of the shaft 2| is'an arm 26. The other end of the arm 26 is pivotally connected as at 21 to one end of a link 28. The link 28 is pivotally connected to a crank 29 for operating a butterfly valve 30, the latter being located in an air-exhaust conduit 3|. The conduit 3| is connectable to a source of suction such as an exhaust fan.

Also rigidly connected to the shaft 2! is one end of an arm 32. The latter carries adjustable weights 33. It may also be formed with a hole 34 for the connection of a pull chain.

The exhaust conduit 3| has its inner end projecting into the cylindrical extension I! on top of the sand blast generator, and the extreme inner end of the conduit is in the form of an elbow to provide an upwardly projecting portion 35 which has an open end in a protected position within the hollow interior of the conical valve member. Rods 36 project upwardly from the conical valve and extend slidably through holes in the ring 45. Adjustment nuts 31 are threaded on the upper ends of the rods.

In use of the invention, a chain extending upwardly from the hole 34 in the end of the arm 32 may be employed to control the action of the valve 30. By releasing the chain the weights 33 will cause the arm 32 to swing in a clockwise direction (referring to Fig. 2). This will act through partial rotation of the shaft 2!, movement of the arm 26, and movement of the link 28 to open the valve 30. At the'same time it will also act through the arm 22 to lower the conical valve member out of sealing relationship with the annular seal 23. Sand which has been used in the sand blast room in the floor above, and which has previously collected in the hopper l0 and in the hopperlike bottom [3 of the tray II, will fall by gravity down the sides of the conical valve member 25 in the form of a thin conical sheet. The maximum thickness of this sheet may be adjusted by use of the nuts 31. At the same time the suction created in the exhaust conduit 15 will cause air from the exterior to enter the open top of the cylinder H, as indicated by the arrows, and cause said air to pass through the conical sheet of falling abrasive just below the bottom of the valve 25 to remove dust from the falling particles. This exhaust action will then cause the air to flow upwardly into the protected zone within the valve member 25 and then downwardly into the upper end 35 of the exhaust pipe elbow. Thus, because of the novel arrangement and the maintenance of the thin sheet of falling abrasive, dust is very effectively removed while the clean abrasive, being heavier, is unaffected by the air currents and falls into the generator below for reuse in the sand blasting apparatus.

The aerating apparatus is very compact and makes it possible to accommodate both the aerating apparatus and the sand blast generator below the floor level so that valuable space on the main floor is not consumed. The apparatus is very simple and inexpensive and is very efficient in its operation.

The invention is suitable for a wide variety of uses, for example, grain or other granular material may be inserted in the hopper l0 and subjected to an aerating action to remove dust or other light material from the grain. In addition, the apparatus is suitable for removing dust from fine coal by causing the coal in a pulverulent state to enter the hopper 10 so that it may be aerated. It is also possible to place a liquid in the hopper so that the liquid is delivered from the sides of the cone in a thin circular sheet where it may be subjected to the action of air or other gas to remove undesired vapors or odors from the liquid. A reverse type of operation is also possible with the apparatus, that is, liquid flowing from the sides of the valve member may be employed to wash air which is circulated through the apparatus so that dust, smoke or other foreign particles will be removed from the air due by the action of the liquid thereon.

Various changes and modifications and other adaptations may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention, and all of such changes are contemplated, as may come within the scope of the claim.

What I claim is:

In an aerator, a material receptacle having a bottom opening, a conical closure and regulating valve member mounted for movement toward and away from sealing relationship with said opening with the base of the valve member located below the opening whereby when the valve is lowered material falling by gravity from said receptacle will be directed in the form of a, conical sheet by the external surface of said valve member, means including an exhaust conduit for subjecting said sheet to the action of gaseous currents, a valve in said exhaust conduit, and common manually operated mechanism for controlling the opening of said exhaust conduit valve and the lowering of said conical valve simultaneously.

RICHARD RUEMELIN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Germany Oct. 5, 1903 

